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During a live-streamed provincial address last week, Notley demanded Ottawa appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn the Federal Court of Appeal’s ruling that quashed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. She also said she’s pulling Alberta out of the national climate change plan to protest the ruling, and demanded Trudeau recall Parliament for an emergency session.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and meet in Edmonton on Wednesday — their first meeting since the Federal Court of Appeal quashed the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. (JASON FRANSON / The Canadian Press)

Speaking to reporters at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton on Wednesday, Trudeau didn’t say how his government planned to address the Alberta premier’s demands.

“We are looking at all options. We are looking at what an appeal would look like, what it would mean,” said Trudeau when asked about an appeal to the Supreme Court. “We are looking at legislative options and we are also looking at what it would take to actually go through the steps that the court has laid out.”

Wednesday was Notley’s and Trudeau’s first in-person meeting the Federal Court of Appeal quashed the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. In its ruling Thursday morning, the court said the government did not properly consult with Indigenous peoples. It also found that the National Energy Board did not effectively consider oil tanker traffic along British Columbia’s coast.

The two leaders met at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald in downtown Edmonton.

“Obviously, we’ll be talking about the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline, the challenges we’re facing and how we can make sure that this pipeline gets built,” said Trudeau, standing side-by-side with Notley.

“This really hit hard, and we know that.”

Notley said her position was already known to the prime minister and that she maintains “other solutions” need to be explored outside the appeal court’s decision itself.

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Thursday’s stunning court ruling caused Notley to take the federal government to task by pulling out of the national climate plan.

While Alberta has its own climate plan that will not be effected, pulling out of the national plan means that once the carbon price goes up to $40 per tonne, Alberta will pull out. This means Alberta will likely stay part of the national plan for the next two or three years before the carbon price increases. It’s expected to hit $50 per tonne by 2022.

“They know, come two years from now, they’re losing another ally,” said Notley of her decision.

Trudeau wouldn’t commit to a strategy when speaking in Edmonton and said he was still weighing his options on whether the government would go to the Supreme Court with an appeal.

“We’re looking carefully at that court ruling,” he said.

Notley said that she was looking forward to a “fulsome” meeting with Trudeau.

The ruling presented a “challenge,” she said at an event in Spruce Grove, Alta., and that the issue now is getting around the challenge.

“We know the federal government is still committed to get the pipeline built — they just spent $4.5 billion on it. If I were them, I’d want to get it built,” Notley said.

But it has to happen fast, she said.

“We have people who are wondering whether they should be going to work in the next week or two,” Notley said. “We have investors in the energy industry, as well as the economy overall, who are looking at whether Canada can make things work.”

Trudeau doubled down on his intentions to get the pipeline built, but said the government has to improve its consultations with Indigenous peoples.

He also defended his government’s decision to buy the project for $4.5 billion.

“If that project expansion was still in private hands, a court of appeal ruling would have killed it,” Trudeau said. “The fact that we as a government now control the project means that we’re able to continue to move forward.”

Responding to queries about Notley’s request that he recall Parliament for an emergency sitting, Trudeau said, “Parliament returns in about a week. There are many things we are going to be discussing and looking at on that.”

In her live-streamed address, Notley said Alberta could not continue to adhere to the national climate plan without the approval of Trans Mountain. Without it, Notley said, “that plan isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

On Tuesday, a Conservative Party motion was put forward to call ministers to testify about the federal government’s decision to buy the pipeline from Kinder Morgan while the matter was before the court. A Liberal committee shot the motion down.

Last week, on the same day as the court of appeal’s ruling, Kinder Morgan shareholders voted in favour of selling the pipeline to the Canadian government. Two Conservative MPs — Shannon Stubbs and Pierre Poilievre — said Canadians deserve to know why the government bought the pipeline and told the Liberal government to provide a timeline to Parliament outlining how it will address the court ruling.

With files from Alex Ballingall and The Canadian Press

Kieran Leavitt is an Edmonton-based reporter. Follow him on Twitter: @kieranleavitt

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